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Cities Alliance Marks 5th Anniversary in Brussels

It has been a full and very productive five years for the Cities Alliance, with fresh opportunities, a new home at the centre of Europe on a UNOPS platform, and far-reaching changes to the way we do business.

[18 September 2018] -- On 31 August 2018, the Cities Alliance Secretariat celebrated its fifth anniversary in Brussels. It has been a full and very productive five years for the Cities Alliance, with fresh opportunities, a new home at the centre of Europe on a UNOPS platform, and far-reaching changes to the way we do business.

Comprehensive external and independent evaluations, assisted by a constant internal drive to improve development impact, have underscored the relevance of the Cities Alliance. When the Secretariat arrived in Brussels in September 2013, one of our first actions was to join and actively participate in an effective campaign for a standalone global urban goal.

Five years later, our Strategic Plan 2018-2021 now provides an excellent platform to contribute to new global agendas, including the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the New Urban Agenda.

On an institutional level, perhaps the most significant event in the past five years was the decision in 2014 to change the Cities Alliance governance and create an Assembly and a Management Board, directed by an independent President and Chair respectively.

These reforms opened up the partnership to new members, incorporated fresh perspectives and reinforced the diversity of our membership. The practical results of these reforms need to be constantly demonstrated, in the effective and cost-efficient partnerships that the Cities Alliance brokers and sustains, both in its country and global programmes.

The Secretariat is in the final stages of an internal re-organisation explicitly designed to improve our efficiency and ability to support members to deliver the Strategic Plan, and to benefit from our recalibrated relationship with UNOPS, not only as our host but also as an implementation partner. The final step will be taken in early 2019, when the Secretariat joins the rest of the UN family in new premises in central Brussels.

Staff at the Cities Alliance Secretariat celebrate five years in Brussels.

Shortly after arriving in Brussels, we joined a campaign for a standalone urban goal. Five years later, our new Strategic Plan is a platform for contributing to the new global agendas.